Posted
by
timothy
on Sunday August 07, 2011 @06:58PM
from the mix-n'-match dept.

An anonymous reader writes "You can now use the PS3 Sixaxis Controller on Android phones and devices. This requires your phone to be rooted, however it is incompatible with most HTC devices and some newer Samsung devices due to the need of specific Bluetooth protocol. It can sync four controllers at once with buttons completely configurable."

I can accept that Android has a great deal many superior features to the iPhone, but I eventually went with iPhone because it had the best user interface, painless upgrade process, everything about it 'just works' (unless it doesn't, such as 3GS wifi-access-point-mode), and the app-store is by far the best. Some people say, "If you're not willing to tinker with your devices you're not a real geek", at which point I tell them that it's just a telephone and I expect it, and its apps, to just work, all the time. It should not need to be tinkered with.

No offense, but I can't stand the "it just works" cop-out. I have heard it so many times, it sounds like it was ripped straight from an Apple commercial. Of course "it just works"-- even Androids "just work," if you mean they can do all the basic functions, like making calls, storing contacts, showing the time, accessing webpages, etc., in some fashion or another without a ton of modification.

However, when given the ability to customize and personalize, some of us enjoy going the extra mile to upgrade a sufficient "just works" interface to an optimal "OMG check out what my smartphone can do" interface. Sure, the default Android browser works fine, but I want tabbed browsing, so I upgrade to Dolphin HD. The default gTalk app does what it's designed to do, but I'm a power chatter with five or six different IM accounts (which could require many different apps!), so to standardize the interface and save on the RAM, I grab eBuddy for an all-in-one solution. And that's not even getting into all of the cool stuff (and money-saving stuff) you can do if you root your phone.

I think that when a geek gains that ability to tinker, "just works" becomes "hmm... maybe I can do better." If you don't have any other options, you don't bitch about a lousy interface--you learn to adapt. For instance, every microwave oven I've ever owned has had a POPCORN button on it that always seems to burn any popcorn I give it. Naturally, I just ignore it like many others do. However, if I could take that button off and replace it with a +30 SECONDS button (in addition to the regular +1 QUICK MINUTE button) or a QUICK RECALL button or something other that would be more useful, I would do it in a heartbeat. But I can't, because the microwave's interface is locked and can't be modified. So you learn to adapt to the quirks and ignore the deficiencies.

However, as soon as you learn you have other options, the minor problems become glaring obstacles that can be overcome with a little bit of research and tinkering. Maybe that's not a big deal to some people, but I like it.

This is actually one of my big misgivings about my iPhone. I have to jailbreak it to do a lot of cool things with it, and Apple goes way out of their way to make it obnoxiously hard. I skip most of the upgrades because it's a complete PITA to plan an upgrade path that won't lose my jailbreak.

I'm giving very serious thought to switching to an Android phone where I can jailbreak it once (possibly with vendor-blessing, or perhaps not), install Cyanogenmod, and be done with it.

If I wanted the best vendor-supplied experience, the iPhone has it, hands down. But I'm a tinkerer, and Android is calling.